July 9
Today's:

0118 - Hadrian, Rome's new emperor, made his entry into the city.

0455 - Avitus, the Roman military commander in Gaul, became Emperor of the West.

1540 - England's King Henry VIII had his 6-month-old marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, annulled.

1609 - In a letter to the crown, the emperor Rudolf II granted Bohemia freedom of worship.

1755 - General Edward Braddock was killed when French and Indian troops ambushed his force of British regulars and colonial militia.

1776 - The American Declaration of Independence was read aloud to Gen. George Washington's troops in New York.

1789 - In Versailles, the French National Assembly declared itself the Constituent Assembly and began to prepare a French constitution.

1790 - The Swedish navy captured one third of the Russian fleet at the naval battle of Svensksund in the Baltic Sea.

1792 - S.L. Mitchell of Columbia College in New York City became the first Professor of Agriculture.

1808 - The leather-splitting machine was patented by Samuel Parker.

1816 - Argentina declared independence from Spain.

1847 - A 10-hour work day was established for workers in the state of New Hampshire.

1868 - The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The amendment was designed to grant citizenship to and protect the civil liberties of recently freed slaves. It did this by prohibiting states from denying or abridging the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, depriving any person of his life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or denying to any person within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

1872 - The doughnut cutter was patented by John F. Blondel.

1877 - Alexander Graham Bell, Gardiner Greene Hubbard, Thomas Sanders and Thomas Watson formed the Bell Telephone Company.

1878 - The corncob pipe was patented by Henry Tibbe.

1900 - The Commonwealth of Australia was established by an act of the British Parliament, uniting the separate colonies under a federal government.

1922 - Johnny Weissmuller became the first person to swim the 100 meters freestyle in less than a minute.

1935 - Norman Bright ran the two mile event in the record time of 9 minutes, 13.2 seconds at a meet in New York City.

1943 - American and British forces made an amphibious landing on Sicily.

1947 - The engagement of Britain's Princess Elizabeth to Lt. Philip Mountbatten was announced.

1951 - U.S. President Truman asked Congress to formally end the state of war between the United States and Germany.

1953 - New York Airways began the first commuter passenger service by helicopter.

1968 - The first All-Star baseball game to be played indoors took place at the Astrodome in Houston, TX.

1971 - The United States turned over complete responsibility of the Demilitarized Zone to South Vietnamese units.

1985 - Herschel Walker of the New Jersey Generals was named the Most Valuable Player in the United States Football League (USFL).

1985 - Joe Namath signed a five-year pact with ABC-TV to provide commentary for "Monday Night Football".

1997 - Mike Tyson was banned from the boxing ring and fined $3 million for biting the ear of opponent Evander Holyfield.

2005 - Danny Way, a daredevil skateboarder, rolled down a large ramp and jumped across the Great Wall of China. He was the first person to clear the wall without motorized aid. Today's: